Archive | October, 2014

This issue’s cover focuses on PointBank’s Boost of Booster Clubs. Not only can you get the hottest new debit cards in town, with local High School mascots emblazoned large on the front, but you can support your favorite participating booster clubs and school organizations by having PointBank donate $25 when you open a new checking account!

Check out the interesting feature article on Denton’s Silk Stocking Row’s beautiful old homes. And, as fall and winter approach, this issue’s Home and Garden article focuses on getting the most curb appeal for your home. And, don’t forget to enjoy some of Denton’s scary haunts this October!

Silk Stocking Row is a residential area with elaborate houses built by the early pioneers of Denton who were prosperous merchants, doctors, bankers and businessmen. Known for their beautiful individual styles as well as handmade millwork by skilled craftsmen, these homes were built to reflect the success and affluence of their owners. Like the luxury of having silk stockings, only the very wealthy could afford to live in the houses on Denton’s Oak Street.

These houses, some of which were built as far back as the late 1800’s to the early 1900’s, show Denton’s rich visual history with almost every decade of architecture represented within just a few blocks. While Victorian architectural themes prevail, the neighborhood presents an eclectic mix of architectural styles. Nicknamed the “grand old ladies of Denton” these were the homes of many of the prominent early families of Denton. Early residents of Oak Street had names like Graham, Christal, Scripture, Martin, Blewett, Evers, Dobbins, Millican, Rayzor, Bell, Favors, Bates and Lomax and Hodges.

The city of Denton was established in 1856 and with the help of the railroads which supplied goods and communication it grew steadily from a raw, frontier town into a prosperous and bustling community. Oak Street was so named in 1857 because of the oak trees that lined the road, and wealthy Denton residents began to build their homes there. It was close enough to town that a trolley car carried well-to-do Oak Street residents to and from the downtown square to shop and to conduct their business.

Very few of the homes on Oak Street were built with the help of an architect. At the time the older homes were built, people would buy home pattern books and would pick out the design details they liked. Builders would modify the pattern designs to customize the design to the homeowner’s wishes. This made each home very unique and fitted to an owner’s specific wants and needs.

One of the many fine homes on Silk Stocking Row is the house at 1035 West Oak. It was home to Robert and Mary Evers, who owned and operated a hardware store on the square in Denton. The Evers House was built in 1903 for Mr. and Mrs. Evers and their five children. The house had 12 large rooms and one small room for a live-in servant, electricity, and a third floor with a balcony. The story has been told that Mrs. Evers would send her children up to the third floor to go out on the balcony and look at the Denton Courthouse clock so she would know the correct time. The third floor of the Evers House had a “smoker” room for guests because Mrs. Evers didn’t allow smoking in the rest of the house. It also had a gymnasium for her five children that was fitted with a skating rink, a basketball hoop and gymnastics equipment.

Another interesting and beautiful home on Oak Street is the Graham/Lomax House at 723 West Oak. Built in 1898 for Otis T. Graham, by contractor, Frank Craft, this Queen Anne Victorian style house became the home of the Lomax family in 1911. It is known for its seven fireplaces, each having a different architectural style, and for its stained glass windows in the dining room, by the nook under the staircase in the entrance hall, and to the right of the front door. The home originally had servant’s quarters in the backyard, but they were later torn down. Elizabeth Lomax lived in the home for 69 years from 1911 until 1980. She was well known the in the community and taught English at what is now the University of North Texas.

Next to the Graham/Lomax House is a home at 705 West Oak that A.E. Graham had built as a wedding present for his daughter, Nola Graham Millican. This house was built in 1905 in the Italianate Victorian style and has a Denton Historic Landmark designation like several other homes on Oak Street.

The May House at 609 West Oak, was built in 1878 and is one of the oldest remaining homes in Denton. It was purchased by the May family in 1885 and it stayed in their family until 1979. It is another Oak Street home with a Denton Historic Landmark designation.

The Martin/Russell House at 811 West Oak received a Texas Historic Landmark designation in 2007. It was built for Dr. M. L. Martin (a Denton doctor for 40 years) and his wife Ailsey in 1931 in the Georgian style. It was sold to the Russell family in 1944 and is thought to be the first home in Denton with central air conditioning.

\These five houses are just a sampling of the collection of 22 interesting and magnificent historic homes on Silk Stocking Row that give us a sense of our city’s history. After several of the historic homes were torn down, the Denton City Council passed a city ordinance in 1980 to create the Historic Landmark Commission whose mission is to preserve and protect Denton’s historic homes and buildings.
According to the City of Denton web site, Denton has two officially designated historic districts. The Oak-Hickory Historic District was designated in 1986 and the West Oak Historic District in 2008. This means that all the structures within the boundaries of these districts fall under the supervision of the Historic Landmark Commission. To make changes to these homes, residents must consult the Historic Landmark Commission for a Certificate of Appropriateness, which is a permission slip to have work done, but more importantly, to preserve Denton’s Silk Stocking Row and other historic treasures.

For more information on Denton’s Silk Stocking Row and historic districts, see the Denton County Historical Commission web site at www.dentoncounty.com/dchc, www.dentonhistory.net and the book, “Early Denton Homes” in the Denton Library at 502 Oakland Street. There is also a Facebook page devoted to Denton’s historic homes called “Historical Homes in Denton County.” Or simply, take a ride or a stroll through the historic districts to see these wonderful homes in person.

Not only can you get the hottest new debit cards in town, with local High School mascots emblazoned large on the front, but you can support your favorite participating booster clubs and school organizations by having PointBank donate $25 when you open a new checking account!

The Switch and Support program is a fundraiser that gives booster clubs, PTA’s and other school organizations an easy way to raise money. Boosters can support the club, get a valuable “badge” of school pride, and start banking with a community bank that supports their school.

It’s easy for the club. All they have to do is spread the word about the logo debit cards, where to get them, and who to pick for the donation. PointBank supplies all of the promotional materials. Currently eleven high schools are participating, with more expected to join. Argyle, Aubrey, Denton, Flower Mound, Guyer, Lake Cities, Lewisville, Liberty Christian, Marcus, Pilot Point, and Ryan, as well as their feeder schools are eligible to participate and receive donations. Multiple booster clubs for each school have signed on and more are signing on daily.

Dustin Holdge, Denton Branch Manager for PointBank took a moment after opening an account for a Denton High School student to explain the plight of school fund raising, “Every day I talk to booster clubs who are very excited about this program because their needs are growing and the competition for funds is also growing. They need new uniforms, they have travel costs, food costs, contest costs…it’s a lot for the schools, and a lot for the parents. Traditional fund raisers require a lot of manpower but they love this because it sells itself and the students are very excited about the debit cards.”

“PointBank is one of the last true community banks in Texas. We are family run and focused on the wellbeing of our community – schools, churches and businesses” said Ray David, Jr, President of PointBank, “Our bank has a long history of supporting schools in the area, and we continue to support them in our traditional ways with underwriting the Education Foundations, sponsoring events, buying signage and paying for needed school improvements. However, there hasn’t been a program like Switch and Support before…the schools are excited so I’m excited too!”

PointBank offers a variety of consumer friendly accounts and specifically with this program features a School Spirit Free Checking account for adults and a School Spirit Free Student Checking Account as well.

PointBank will offer banking workshops for students who open accounts, which will focus on the value of money, earning money, being responsible with money, saving, and balancing your account. “We want to teach fiscal responsibility along with the excitement of having a debit card and money to spend,” Dawn Sprayman, Executive Director of Marketing for PointBank.

For more information about the Switch and Support promotion, or teen banking workshops please contact Jenny Kelly, Marketing Manager at 972-434-3275 or jkelly@pointbank.com or logon to www.pointbank.com.

If sciatica is getting on your nerves, you’re not alone. The University of Maryland Medical Center estimates that just over 40% of Americans will experience this kind of pain in their lifetime.

What is Sciatica and why is it so common? Sciatica is a common term for any pain resulting from irritation of the Sciatic nerve. It’s common because the sciatic nerve is the longest nerve in the body; therefore, pressure can be placed on it at many locations. Disc bulges placing pressure on the sciatic nerve in the back can cause low back pain and sciatica. Sometimes a muscle located deep in the buttocks can become too tight and put pressure on the sciatic nerve. A misalignment of the lumbar vertebrae in the low back can also put pressure on the sciatic nerve.

Finally, spinal degeneration from long-standing back problems can also cause irritation of the sciatic nerve. Sciatic pain is often described as a deep, severe pain that starts low on one side of the back and then shoots down the buttock and the leg with certain movements. Sciatica can also cause hip pain. Unfortunately, traditional medical management is often unsuccessful, forcing many to consider surgery in order to find relief. Luckily, there might be another option!

A study conducted by the National Spine Center in Alberta Canada and published in October of 2010 in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics used 40 study participants that all had sciatica lasting over 3 months which had not responded to treatment with pain medications, lifestyle modifications, physical therapy, massage therapy or acupuncture. They had all been referred by their primary care physicians to spinal surgeons who had deemed them appropriate surgery candidates.

Instead of having all the patients proceed with surgery, they were split into two groups – one group to undergo a surgical microdiscectomy and the other group to be treated with standardized chiropractic adjustments by a single chiropractor.

So what happened? Everyone in the Chiropractic group received relief. Surprisingly 60% of those receiving chiropractic care benefited to the SAME degree as if they had received surgery!

As a Chiropractor in Denton, I regularly treat people reporting sciatic symptoms with great results. If you or someone you know is suffering with sciatica, chiropractic might be able to provide the relief you’ve been looking for.

You can reach Dr. Alex Markel BS, DC at DrMarkel@LifePointTexas.com, or 940-218-1395.

Garlic

Grandma’s chicken soup really DID make you better, junior. It was the warm comfort, the liquid replacement and the garlic that aided your body’s immune system for your speedy recovery. Repellant of mosquitoes, vampires and unwanted suitors, garlic has endured as a foundation of health and menu enhancement for an estimated 4,000 years. This root herb was worshiped and cast in clay models by Egyptians, used as currency, used in famous dishes worldwide but rejected by English and American societies until early 19th century when immigrants brought it with them and its popularity grew with the public. Humanity’s view of this herb is as deep and broad as its millennial history.

French physician Louis Pasteur documented the antibacterial power of garlic way back in 1858; research that was revived 100+ years later for options to antibiotics that had been made ineffective through overuse. Modern researchers identified the volatile organsulpher antioxidant compound allicin exhibits strong antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral properties.

The health benefits prove the same whether from cooked or raw garlic, but specially processed order-less garlic extracts are readily available today. Famed as a blood pressure, cholesterol, infection, cancer and blood sugar management tool, garlic products are promoted by the AARP, Dr Oz and other high profile health gurus.

Grown most easily using cloves planted in fall (seeds are available but more difficult), garlic needs cool weather and, well drained soil to grow until the bulb harvest comes. Garlic leaves can be harvested for flavoring or fresh in soups and salads – all 300 varieties! Lift them up and out of the ground (do not pull on the leaves), and hang in a warm, dry spot for several weeks to cure and cull diseased or rotted cloves. A cool, dark location should be used for longer term storage up to six months.

It can be frozen , dried or stored in oil but all long term methods require breaking the cloves and will decrease the flavor quality as well as health benefits. Cooking it is fine but do not microwave it because it will destroy active ingredients.

Twenty seven years of wowing local audiences, The Festival Ballet of North Central Texas is a holiday tradition in Denton. With 200+ cast members and 5,000+ audience members, this ballet never fails to entertain and exhilarate holiday audiences. The Nutcracker is enjoyed by so many and loved by all! Performers represent thirty communities from the North central region of Texas, as well as dancers from outside the area, and they are the best of the best in their local schools.

Since 1989, the Nutcracker performances are at the TWU Margo Jones Performance Hall. Tickets are on sale starting October 4th. Performance dates are December 13th at 2:30 pm and 7:30 pm, and December 14th at 2:30 pm.